There are 19 states in this country that now allow legal same-sex marriages. And after judges in Wisconsin and Indiana tossed out same-sex marriage bans, there were 9 states whose bans were declared to be unconstitutional and are awaiting appeals court decisions. There is now a 10th. On Tuesday, Senior U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II (a Bush appointee) ruled that the ban on same-sex marriages in Kentucky was unconstitutional. Judge Heyburn said the state's argument that marriage was for procreation only is not an argument of "serious people".
The judge went on to say, "Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses. Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have."
Judge Heyburn concluded by saying, "Sometimes, by upholding equal rights for a few, courts necessarily must require others to forebear some prior conduct or restrain some personal instinct. Here, that would not seem to be the case. Assuring equal protection for same-sex couples does not diminish the freedom of others to any degree. The same-sex couples' right to marry seems to be a uniquely "free" constitutional right. Hopefully, even those opposed to or uncertain about same-sex marriage will see it that way in the future."
He ruled the same-sex marriage ban in Kentucky violated "the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution".
Religion does not trump the Constitution (and that's what this was really about). If it did, this country would be a theocracy instead of a democracy. In a democracy, especially a constitutional democracy like ours, all people must have the same rights -- and same-sex couples should have the same rights given to opposite-sex couples.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has now ruled to uphold tossing out the marriage ban in Utah (and that probably also applies to Oklahoma, who is under that same appeals court). But the stay is still in effect (preventing same-sex marriages to start), pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. This decision will almost surely require the Supreme Court to finally take up this issue -- probably in their next term. That means we could be only about a year away from a Supreme Court decision that could legalize same-sex marriage in every state.
Well SCOTUS may be populated by a bunch of religious dimwits but the state judges seem to understand the Constitution.
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